When things go wrong at school parents are bound to feel stressed, wanting the problem to be resolved as soon as possible. So what's the best way forward?

One big issue, according to @goodschoolsguide Melanie Sanderson, can be a big difference in approach between home and school when it comes to discipline.

Regardless of what's gone wrong, in my latest episode she urges parents to proceed with caution.

"The best thing for your child is never for you to disbelieve or berate a teacher who criticizes them. It’s all about listening, gathering the facts, and keeping it measured."

There's been a surge in parental complaints, that are being amplified via WhatsApp in the UK, according to the CEO of charity @parentkind, Jason Elsom. Quoted in The Times Elsom, said, “We are seeing a tsunami of parental complaints. It is never right to name and shame a school or engage in a WhatsApp pile-on, but schools need to make sure they have thought through how they engage parents to nip issues in the bud."

Parentkind found in a poll of 2,000 parents that 38% had filed a formal school complaint in the past year, with the total number of complaints over five million in just one year.

Main areas of concern included bullying, student safety, school discipline and behaviour policies, homework, and teacher conduct.

Elsom says parents are under enormous pressure with a cost-of-living crisis and ever increasing challenges at home, which sometimes spills over into the classroom and WhatsApp groups.

Meanwhile, nearly two thirds of school leaders say parental complaints increased during the 2023/24 academic year in a survey by UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson.

Even the government agrees that something needs to be done because the current complaints system is "working for no one", according to the Government's latest Education Secretary, bridgetphillipsonmp

What is your experience of school complaints? What have you found works best?

Listen to all of the advice on how to manage problems at school out now by clicking on the link in my bio, going to www.teenagersuntangled.com or my parenting teenagers untangled YouTube account.

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